Term insurance plans in India are considered to be the cheapest of all and the trend is to only be bothered about the premium without looking into other factors while buying a plan. A plan has to be looked into its totality that includes the premium, terms and conditions being offered, the background of the company, the fine print of the contract and the insurance provider’s claim settlement ratio. The best life insurance policy will have to score high on its claim settlement ratio to be worth investing in.

Before going further, let’s understand what this ratio is and why is it so important:

This is one of the most crucial aspects of insurance and it can be defined in simple terms as the ratio of successful claim settlements against claims filed. For example, if in a financial year a company receives 1000 death claims and it settles 975 out of them, the ratio will stand at 97.5%. This is a very good ratio and companies are expected to not only settle claims as soon as they are filed, but also to settle the deserving ones. The ones doing it in the best manner are considered to be the best for purchasing a policy. Therefore, the claim settlement ratio becomes so important while doing life insurance policies comparison.

Here we would like to share with you the top 5 companies with the best claim settlement ratios for the year 2014-15 as per Insurance Regulatory Authority of India’s (IRDA) annual report:

Most companies can reject your claims owing to incomplete or incorrect information mentioned in the policy document filled while buying the policy. Even as it is your right to do a term insurance plans in India comparison while buying a plan, it is your duty to disclose complete as well as accurate information to avail the claim benefits ensuring your claims are not rejected.

There is one favourable news for customers, though, as per an amendment to Section 45 of the Insurance Act, if your policy is more than 3 years old, the insurance company will have to approve the claim no matter what and cannot deny it on any grounds. Even then, you need to furnish correct details in the policy document to avail benefits on time.

The term insurance plans in India is very crucial for you and your family. It is better to spend a bit of time to buy the best life insurance policy rather than not having a policy and being financially vulnerable.

Life insurance is one of the biggest investment vehicles in the uncertain economic environment and we expect the industry to fare reasonably well in near future. Factors like rising income of middle-class section, young insurable population and growing awareness of the need for financial protection will surely lead the path for the growth of life insurance in India.

With Indian insurance industry booming at a constant pace, it's been turning as one of the most preferred investment destinations for foreigners. Since Indian insurance market was opened for private players in 2000, several national and international players are competing and increasing their operations in India.

Life insurance policy in India offer two kinds of benefits. Many insurance policies Most offer a big financial cover in case of death of the insured person. It is the most basic form of life insurance in India that can bye purchased through leading life insurance policy companies either manually or by visiting online company websites.

However, it’s the permanent The second type of benefit offered by insurance policies that offer are an excellent form of capital investment to grow your funds, get a life cover in case of death and offer financial reward during your survival in the form of maturity earnings. In another way around words, it offers a return on investment and security of life insurance at the same time.

The insurance segment has witnessed rapid growth along with various moderations and intensifying competition. There are number of products and innovation necessitated by consumer needs and increased competition amongst the players. The strong industry fundamentals augur well for a roadmap to be drawn for sustainable long-term growth.

Online comparison helps you acquire rates, benefits & features of various insurance companies in India under a single umbrella. It will helps you save time and energy you have had to spend in visiting companies, collecting brochure, pamphlets or information leaflets for calculations. Once you have the quotes, compare the offers of different life insurance policy provider and then go for a suitable purchase.

The feedback for the insurance companies would be: it’s time for life insurance policy companies in India segment to are now re-committed themselves to offer customer-centric products, design them based on consumer needs, ethical market conduct, transparency, and governance.

While buying your plan the first thing would be understanding your financial goal. You need to know the purpose of insurance plan. The objective could be protection, or financial security, saving for child’s higher education, daughter marriage or spouse survival needs. Having your insurance need identified will help evaluate your willingness to spend in the form of premium costs, towards your plan. You must ensure that the decision is taken wisely so that it’s affordable on your pockets in the long run and can be sustained over the life insurance policy tenure.

Your risk appetite is again crucial to determine the returns that you can expect on your investment plan. The basic principle of investment is higher the risk, higher would be the returns. It has to be planned well sitting with your financial expert. The fund choice and monitoring proves crucial for the returns especially in a unit linked plan where its linked to the performance of the fund you opt for, whereas, in a traditional, the returns are secured and at times will be pre-determined.

Term insurance is an insurance cover taken for a specific period of time. During this period, if the insured person dies, the sum assured is paid to the beneficiaries who are ideally family members in most cases. The sum assured is the amount of cover which the insured person wishes to choose at the time of buying the policy. The benefit under the plan is payable only if the insured person dies. If the insured person survives after the plan completion policy period, they will not receive any maturity benefits. Thus, these plans are called as pure protection plans.

Term insurance is the only type of plan which is designed solely for protection purposes. Since the death risk is covered, the plans present unique benefit of higher sum assured at lower cost premiums. When purchased online term plan is 30- to 40% cheaper compared to an offline purchase.

The maximum amount of sum assured under a term insurance is limitless. However, there has to be some practical figure based on your income source and risk appetite. Because if you’re unable to pay the premium costs in future, chances are your policy might be terminated. Term plan determines the corpus required to meet your family’s lifestyle, survival needs, and shape up the future of your kids. Therefore, you should choose the coverage amount very carefully. If you’re afraid of choosing a higher level of sum assured in the fear of unaffordable premium amount, relax! A term insurance is the cheapest form of insurance policy available in the market.

With internet era, you can buy term insurance from the comfort of your house or place of work. An online purchase is generally cheaper and offers the convenience of comparing different plans at the click of the a button on your computer, laptop or smartphones. Once you decide the cover amount, you can quickly find out which company is offering your desired cover, the premium costs incurred and plan benefits available on plan.

Once you decide the term insurance company you wish to buy your term insurance plan from, apply you need to download the forms, fill up the necessary details, and upload it with a scanned copy of documents. Within a day or two, the company representative will get in touch regarding the policy purchase.

While filling your online form you will have to enter personal details, nominee details, medical and any information on the pre-existing medical condition, habits like smoking, drinking, tobacco consumption, etc. Few statistics like height and weight might also be required to be filled in the form. The online site will guide you through the application process and will make sure you don’t miss on any required information which is required.

It is advisable to be true honest with the information you fill in the application form because if revealed later, chances are your family might receive shorter cover or policy gets terminated.

Experts say, while the lack of maturity benefit cannot be ignored, term plans are still important to the context provided. These plans prove to be the best financial protection for middle and upper-middle class section. It offers maximum financial security blanket at optimum costs.

Taking into consideration the rising inflation costs, better lifestyle expectancy in the absence of the earning member, a substantial corpus is required to meet such lifestyle expenses of the family. It can’t be built by a common middle-class individual and therefore, term plan helps you exactly fill up the shoe crunch. For people who are still unconvinced and want a return out of your term insurance plan, there is a solution for you too. The insurance firm has come up with a return of premium term plans which promise a maturity benefit. Happy, aren’t you? So, go ahead and buy the best financial security blanket at optimum premium costs.